


Madeline and Theo Go on a Road Trip to the Very Last Blockbuster (You Know, the One in Alaska)

by WinryDontShoot



Series: Facets of My Reflection: Celeste Stories [4]
Category: Celeste (Video Game)
Genre: Crack, Gen, Goth Madeline, Post-Canon, Road Trips, Stupidity, acting like BUFFOONS, college stress, hints of Theoline, weird movie references, why do i know so many weird animated movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 06:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20701529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinryDontShoot/pseuds/WinryDontShoot
Summary: Alex is there too.





	Madeline and Theo Go on a Road Trip to the Very Last Blockbuster (You Know, the One in Alaska)

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in a hurry bc i wanted this to exist  
but here everyone goes, the thing nobody asked for  
note: i know it's technically not the very last blockbuster (there's a couple others? i think?) but it's how i wrote the title and it's going to stay

Madeline lets her head loll as she gazes out the window at passing scenery. Whirlwinds of snow, and the low-lying coffeeshops of outer-city Vancouver, are leaving her.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Theo says in his calming, resonant drawl. He's the kind of person who drives with one hand. Madeline is zero percent surprised by this. "Just… just for Blockbuster."

Madeline nods her head sagely. "And you swung by Canada first just for the sake of picking me up."

"Well, yeah. The entire point of this road trip is that we're on a road trip together." Theo doesn't take his attention off the road, but his eyes roll halfway back. "We've got all our stops planned. And we planned for Canada too. You two meeting was long overdue."

The keyboard-clattering in the backseat goes mute. "And I'm glad I did. I am finally in the company of the legendary Madeline."

Madeline giggles. Alex is sitting right behind her, so she can't really see her even if she cranes her head -- but just thirty minutes ago, when Theo pulled up in front of Madeline's house, Madeline had run screaming joyously down her front steps and Alex had burst out of shotgun to meet her. Madeline was instantly crushed in the bone-shattering hug of somebody who cuts a refined look but very obviously doesn't skip arm day. Madeline yelled and shrieked, as Alex spun her around for a minute, and proceeded to forgo shotgun, putting Madeline in the place of honor while Alex folded her legs up and plugged her laptop in the back.

"You don't look so different in person," Alex muses, leaning to the side to look forward. She's tall enough to crane and see Madeline if she wants to. "Most people have this thing about them, where they look flatter on a screen… but you're the real package."

"I'm a small, compressed parcel of determination with scant few defining features, who can very neatly fit in a square photo," Madeline remarks, thinking fondly of her best pictures with Theo. "I really don't think it's so tall an order."

"I disagree with Alex," Theo says. "And with you. You're a mysterious individual with a complicated fashion sense. That's too much to distill into a photo. It would take… a moodboard, at least. Just to capture some of it."

"Ah, yes," Madeline says.

"Half the times I call you, you're wearing striped shirts and flower headbands," Alex says. Her keyboard is still silent; the spaces between sentences are filled only by the calm, ethereal hum of Theo's BMW. "And the other half, it's goth pendants and purple and black."

"There's some bleed-over," Madeline says quickly. "I… I have purple and black striped shirts. It's just… complicated. But it's better than it was -- before I -- well, before I really had a fashion style."

"Maddy, you can dress how you want. You don't need to justify that to anybody," Alex says. Theo is nodding.

"But I care about what people think," Madeline says. "I don't want to dress too young when I'm obviously the age of being in the workforce… well, not obviously. I think that's the issue -- I like wearing the flower crowns and stuff, I just need to stop myself so people don't think I'm a kid."

"The goth thing is a little unexpected, but you're an intriguing individual. You make it work."

Madeline smiles. Alex is saying that and she doesn't even know. Theo quickly shoots Madeline a knowing glance and smug smile, before looking back to the road.

Theo says, "Madeline started dressing that way after her first trip to Celeste Mountain."

"What? Wow, I know you two keep talking about how special that place is, but why on Earth did it affect how you dress?"

"I-- it didn't affect how I dress, not really! It's just… I'd already wanted to dress this way, for a long time, and… it took something…"

"Magical," Theo says.

"Magical," Madeline echoes, "to bring it out of me."

"What is it about Celeste? Theo talks about it like it's Disneyland. Come on, Maddy, what really happened? Is there a secret goth fashion store there or something?"

"What happens on Celeste Mountain, stays on Celeste Mountain," Theo says.

Madeline can't help but half-hide her face, but she's laughing. Theo is dancing so close to that stuff Madeline knows Alex wouldn't believe, and borderline embarrassing her, but keeping just enough distance that her reputation with Alex isn't compromised --

She would think I'm weird--

\--Okay, so she knows I'm a  little weird. But she's fine with that.

"So you're telling me," Alex says, the patience draining from her voice, "that we should be going to Mt. Celeste, but instead we're going to Blockbuster."

"The one and only," Theo says. "Come on. It's just as magical."

"You haven't been there yet. This is going to be just like the early 2000's -- a grand façade masking hidden disappointment."

Madeline folds her hands together quietly. She actually doesn't know what it's like to be inside of a Blockbsuter.

Alex continues, "Blockbuster has weird carpet, bad lighting, overrated movies and--"

"And the impermeable stench of 90's kid nostalgia." Theo has a perpetual smile.

"…Right. Whatever that smells like. Anyways, Maddy, you ready for Space Jam? The Matrix? Other movies from that general time period?"

"And Mike'N'Ikes," Theo says. "Nobody likes them, but you can't leave without buying a box."

"And Mike'N'Ikes, because Theo insists."

"Actually," Madeline says, "I was planning on buying some stuff ironically. Twilight. The Last Airbender. The Ice Age pentalogy. You know, the works."

"Buy?" Theo says. "You've got to rent for the maximum stressed-out watch-it-or-else experience."

"Theo, we're going to a store FOUR DAYS AWAY from where I live."

"…I'm sorry, did she just say Ice Age pentalogy?"

"It's a real cinematic universe," Theo says. "But not quite of the same cut as the Alpha and Omega Octalogy."

"I… what? Alpha and Omega… is that a religious thing, or…?"

"A dog thing," Madeline says. "An awkward CGI dog thing."

"…Oh."

"Theo and I have this whole… freaky knowledge… of weird animated movies. It goes really deep. You might not be ready for it."

"I am certainly not," Alex remarks. "Law school could not possibly prepare me."

And Alex is again lost in the clattering of her keyboard.

Alex most definitely looks different in person.

Her photos were pristine. And prestigious -- so many group lineups where she's clad in a dress shirt and businesslike skirt, if not a women's suit. Madeline knew from the start that Alex was professional, and must have the care to maintain this any time anyone was taking her picture. Alex even dressed nicely for video calls with Madeline -- even ones where Madeline was embarrassingly caught in her pajamas.

Madeline wondered for a while if there was some sort of tension between them. But now Alex is wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, has papers scattered over the backseat, and doesn't keep too hard from stifling the occasional yawn.

Madeline is relieved. This must be the ever-demanding reality of law school, and as it turns out, Alex is just like anyone else.

…Well. Just like her, at least.

Maybe she would have her own Badeline, Madeline wonders, gazing out at snow-clouds. We have a lot in common. Even if Alex kept her distance at first, it was just from professionalism. And maybe perfectionism.

"Alex, you mind if we listen to some beats?" Theo asks.

"Nah, go ahead."

"Theo, maybe we should be quiet -- every time we talk, we're distracting her."

"Actually?" Alex says, as she shuffles her papers. "I think I could use the distraction right now. …I mean, I won't stop working, but… background noise. I get lonely from how much time I have to spend alone working on stuff. Y'all do what you want. You're both important to me, and…"

Alex sniffs loudly.

"Woah, hey," Theo says softly. "Alex, we… you wanna talk?"

"It's stress," Alex says, her voice a tearful quiver. "I… I'd work better on this at home… but I want to be here."

"You're still working on it," Theo says. "We need to turn around? Drop you off at Maddy's place? She could just housekeep for you while we go on to Blockbuster, right?"

"Stop," Alex says. "Don't turn around -- I want to be here! I haven't had enough time with you… and… and I'm only just now getting to see Madeline for real! I want to be with both of you!"

"Theo, pull over," Madeline says. "I need to get in the backseat and hug Alex."

Alex snivels, tear tracks running down her face.

Madeline is strapped into the middle seat. For the time being, Alex's laptop and research are to Madeline's left. She's keeping this from Alex for the time being. She can work on her paper later. She can't do it now.

"And then," Alex wails, clutching Madeline to her, "there's a bunch of sources you have to find, and then you have to read all of them, when your deadline is really tight and you don't know that you can read all of your relevant material as deeply as you should, to make something MEANINGFUL out of it…"

Madeline nods. She hasn't received this level of higher education. But she'll readily empathize with Alex.

Alex's arms are encircled around Madeline's shoulders. "It's just so much, and-- it's a means to an end, and I get sick of it!"

"Make it to the end of the semester," Theo says.

"I know, I know, and I always do, but… over and over and over!"

"I'm just glad I can be here," Madeline says. "Even if it's not usually in-person like Theo."

"Well it's nice having you in-person now. You're so small and huggable. …You don't mind people lovingly calling you short, right?"

"I can tell when it's genuine."

"Right. Well, you're the perfect small size for-- for people to hug when they're stressed out. Use this trait wisely."

Madeline bonks her head to Alex's shoulder. "Mmmph."

Four days later.

Thousands of words.

Weird conversations. Spontaneous karaoke. Useful peer revision. Weird burger places. Theo constantly alluding to the existence of Badeline, Madeline being left spluttering trying to shirk it off, and Alex looking really long, really hard at Madeline before concluding that she has somehow become more goth every day of the trip, very slowly, in spite of her only rotating through two outfits. Alex also remarks that "I'm actually getting more done than if I'd stayed home."

Constant movie recommendations. Deliberations. Doubts. Countless mentions of Bee Movie, until Madeline finally pulls up the script and starts reading. Theo and Alex have a dreadful amount of it memorized.

Four very weird, very different motel stays. Nothing too shady, but as she huddles awake late at night on a pull-out couch, listening to Alex gently snoring from the bed, Madeline faintly finds herself wondering what it's like away from here, on Celeste Mountain, right now.

On the last day, Alex is conked out in the backseat. "It's done," she moans. "It's done."

Theo puts on his blinker and pulls into Blockbuster.

Madeline doesn't know what she expected.

Well, okay. So she does know what she expected. She expected something smack-dab between Theo's romanticized recollection and Alex's packaged disappointment. A little bit of wonder, a few solid finds, and one bored retail worker.

Madeline doesn't expect the ear-splitting shriek that comes from Alex.

"I REMEMBER ALL OF THESE!"

Alex is beholding a display shelf of Childhood Classics You Swore You Hallucinated and Later Desperately Searched for on the Internet but Could Never Find Until Now.

Madeline blinks. This is on a whole other level. She and Theo may have been spitting their knowledge of the animated Titanic sequels and Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss, but these films are by companies Madeline never heard of. Madeline and Theo had bad CGI, awkward titles, and cringey summaries. These… these are worse CGI, titles in stale 90s fonts, and…

Oh my goodness, are these ALL toy spinoffs?!

Alex whirls around, tearful. "I thought I'd never find any of these. I always wanted the toys, but… I completely forgot! Oh my stars, how did I ever forget Magicpets?!"

"Hey," says the gruff man behind the counter. "There's, uh… there's more in the back. A lot of those, actually. More than we could fit on the rack."

Alex's tired eyes go wide. "I must see."

Theo's body does a massive whiplash. "AJ?! What are you doing here, this is ALASKA!!"

"Theo? I haven't seen you since you went off to that weird mountain place!"

"AJ, for real! Let's go catch up! …Hey, Strawberry. Want to come with us to, uh, the back?"

Madeline blinks, only just now tuning back in to the surreal conversation. "Uh, what?"

Magicpets. AJ. Strawberry.

…Strawberry?!

What is this. What IS this. A nickname-- he has a nickname for me NOW?!

"Uh," Madeline says, lost.

Theo winks and does finger-guns at her. "I'm… a little high right now from being inside Blockbuster, sorry, Maddy. Is it… is it okay if I have a nickname for you-- I mean, do you like it?"

Madeline swears she can feel her heart twitch. If that's the only concern… whether she likes it…

"I love it," Madeline says, beaming. "And… I'll be just fine waiting out here. I think there's some movies I need to look for."

As Theo, AJ and Alex walk off, Madeline can hear Alex mutter, "Your BFF, huh?"

Madeline wanders the open range of Blockbuster shelves.

The hits scroll by her. Weird stuff. Not-weird stuff. Popular. Obscure. Candy.

Madeline starts chucking boxes of Pocky into her shopping basket. Maybe that's what she's really looking for. Candy.

It's so empty here. I can't believe I'm in a Blockbuster. It feels like… it feels like the only other people who still exist… are the people who came here with me.

I'm so far away from everything. Everyone. And I'm going to get back, but…

"Hey," says a voice, one intensely familiar to Madeline's mind. The hairs on the back of Madeline's neck stand up. "I'm here too."

Madeline whirls around.

And there, swinging one leg down as she casually perches atop a stack of The Room DVDs--

Her.

…HER!!

"Baddy," Madeline squeaks. "You're-- wait-- you can materialize in other places \-- wait -- can you materialize ANYWHERE?!"

"No, no." Badeline closes her eyes halfway. "Not just anywhere. Not everywhere is magic."

"So-- then-- oh my gosh, we have so much to talk about. I want to catch up with you! …I kind of look like you but I accessorize more. What do you think of that?"

"What do you think I think of that?"

"I-- now you're just messing with me. Okay, okay. I've got to go grab Theo and Alex right now\--"

"No, you don't."

"…What?"

"Madeline. Darling." Badeline leans way over, letting her head hang down in Madeline's face. The edges of Madeline's vision are snuffed out by the darkness of Badeline's hair. "You don't. Because guess what?"

"…What?"

"No one will ever believe you."

Badeline grins. Madeline tenses up, swearing that she isn't scared--

A whoosh of light, and Madeline thinks that she feels new life rushing into her veins -- but she doesn't look any different.

Badeline was there. And now she's not.

Madeline can't believe it. Blockbuster isn't as magical as Celeste, but it's still magical some?!

Madeline hugs herself gently. She hasn't felt this buzz of self-acceptance in months. She certainly didn't expect to get it now.

How could I convince even Theo that Badeline really was here just now?

…I can't. She's right. She's right and it's  hilarious.

Madeline doesn't laugh out loud, but at the back of her mind she can hear a cackle slowly fading out.


End file.
